Social Affairs Reporter

Number one ... Chinese students are the best in the world. Photo: Reuters

TEACHERS in Shanghai spend between 10 and 12 hours on class time each week and yet their students are ranked highest in the world.

The next highest country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Program for International Student Assessment rankings is Korea, which spends about 16 per cent less on students than Australia.

Finnish students spend fewer hours in class than Australian students but that country is ranked third overall, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore.

Australia sits in ninth place on the PISA rankings, with the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, stating she wants to see the country in the top five in reading, mathematics and science by 2025. But education experts are cautious about the $6.5 billion plan, saying it will take more than money to address Australia's declining ranking.

Advertisement

The school education program director at the Grattan Institute, Dr Ben Jensen, analysed the performance of the top four Asian countries for the report Catching Up: Learning from the best school systems in East Asia, published this year.

He found Shanghai, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong supported teacher training and development. ''These four systems all focus on things that are known to matter in the classroom, including a relentless practical focus on learning and the creation of a strong culture of teacher education, research, collaboration, mentoring, feedback and sustained professional development,'' he wrote.

A principal research fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research Dr Lawrence Ingvarson said improvements would be difficult unless Australian teachers were given the same respect and remuneration as their high-performing counterparts.

''Our national bodies and our politicians ignore the work teachers have done in developing really high-quality teaching standards,'' he said. ''They develop bureaucratic standards; standards which are very managerial and don't put trust in the profession.''

According to OECD figures, an experienced Australian teacher earns $47,000 a year, 30 per cent less than the average salary, compared with $81,000 in Korea, three times more than the average salary, or $59,000 in Finland, almost 40 per cent more than the average.

''Are we really making a concerted effort to attract high-quality people? We're not,'' Dr Ingvarson said. ''There needs to be a fundamental reform of teachers' salaries.''

Chris Bonnor, a fellow of the Centre for Policy Development, said Finnish teachers had masters degree qualifications and enjoyed high social status.

''Australia does not value teaching as a profession in the same way,'' he said.

The chief executive of ACER, Professor Geoff Masters, said it would be wrong for Australian policymakers to simply copy the systems of high-achieving nations.

''It's about the quality of teaching, it's about the quality of the leadership,'' Professor Masters said. ''The question is how do we build that across the country in all our schools? It's not a small challenge.''